An unspecified number of officers were placed on administrative leave after the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man by Akron, Ohio Police, who they say refused to stop his vehicle after they attempted to pull him over for a traffic stop.
25-year-old Jayland Walker has been the center of racial controversy around the country after he was gunned down by officers, who fired more than 90 shots at the Uber Eats driver, hitting him at least 60 times.
Protests have erupted in Akron following the release of the video footage, which shows Walker exiting his vehicle and fleeing on foot, unarmed. The family lawyer, Bobby DiCello, said of the footage to be released, “I’ve been a trial lawyer for 22 years and I’ve never seen anything remotely close to what that video is going to show.”
n initial police statement, which was released on Tuesday, said officers tried to stop Mr. Walker for an unspecified traffic violation while he was driving at around 12:30 a.m. After Mr. Walker did not stop, officers pursued his vehicle. The police said Mr. Walker fired a gun while he was driving, but the statement did not state how that was confirmed After a few minutes, Mr. Walker slowed down his car and exited it while it was still moving; officers then chased him on foot into a parking lot.
The statement said officers opened fire after “actions by the suspect caused the officers to perceive he posed a deadly threat to them.”“I’ve met personally with the chief and he has told me that he hasn’t found that evidence,” Mr. DiCello said. He said that the police chief told him that moments before the shooting began, two officers tried to use stun guns on Mr. Walker and missed.
According to a report from IG page @saycheesetv, Windy City rapper Boss Top was among five people that were shot on 4th of July morning in Chicago’s Parkway Garden Homes, most commonly known as O Block.
The shooting took place not long after midnight in the 6500 block of South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, with all five victims taken to a local hospital after the brazen attack.
The victims include a teenager, who was shot in the arm, a 30-year-old man was shot multiple times, two 19-year-olds who were treated for gunshot wounds to their legs and a man around 25 was also treated for a gunshot wound to the knee. According to authorities, all five men are in fair condition.
TheSource.com will update this story as more details develop.
On this day in Hip Hop history, one of the culture’s most influential musical masterminds was born. Wu-Tang Clan frontman Robert Fitzgerald Diggs a.k.a. RZA was born today (July 5) in Brooklyn, New York, 49 years ago. Since stepping on the scene in 1989, RZA has done more than just create an outrageously successful career for himself and his affiliates but has also forever shaped and changed the way a lot of things are handled in the music industry. From branding to merchandising to mastery of one’s craft, RZA stands as a pillar example of how someone given nothing but their own mind can rise to be a titan in the entertainment industry.
In honor of his birthday, we’ve compiled a list of five of RZA’s most important power moves that helped to build and strengthen his empire. Spanning from music to video games, RZA’s influence can be felt across culture, color lines and international borders.
-Signing With Tommy Boy Records
RZA signed with the famous Tommy Boy Records in 1991 under the moniker Prince Rakeem and released one EP, Ooh I Love You Rakeem. Although this may not have been the most eventful or productive period of RZA’s career, his tumultuous relationship with Tommy Boy is what helped RZA to formulate his own plan to monopolize Hip Hop. His time at Tommy Boy allowed him to build vital connections with artists and executives that can been seen lasting throughout the remainder of his career. Tommy Boy gave RZA a necessary first glimpse of how the music industry works as a whole, which helped him to finesse it into something that worked for him.
-The Five-Year-Plan
In his autobiography The Tao of Wu, RZA detailed a majority of the events surrounding the ridiculous success of Wu-Tang Clan, the most prominent of these being his “Five Year Plan.” This plan, enacted in 1992 following the success of the RZA-produced Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, was RZA’s scheme for his group to become the most powerful figures in Hip Hop as a whole and individually. In an analogy, RZA explains, “I want all of y’all [Wu-Tang] to get on this bus. And be passengers. And I’m the driver. And nobody can ask me where we going. I’m taking us to No. 1. Give me five years, and I promise that I’ll get us there.”
At the end of the five year period, Wu-Tang Clan had released the Grammy Award-winning, number one Wu-Tang Forever LP (which sold four million copies in its first six months on shelves), GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, ODB and Ghostface Killah all had Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, and Wu-Tang Clan had a successful comic book, clothing line and video game under their belt.
-Wu-Tang Clan Record Deals
As Wu-Tang’s popularity continued to grow exponentially, major labels were breaking down the door to get a piece of the action. For a short while there was a question of where the group and its members would sign. In an attempt to divide and conquer the corporate music world, RZA came up with the idea to have the majority of the members sign with competing record labels. Although from the outside this plan may seem risky and convoluted, RZA was again right on the money with this decision. Having Method Man sign with Def Jam, Raekwon sign with Loud, Ghostface Killah sign with Sony, ODB sign with Elektra and GZA sign with Geffen/MCA allowed for maximum promotion of each artist. No one company had to divvy out the funds to try and support the promo of each of these rap icon’s solo work. This also allowed record labels to work together like never before when pushing Wu-Tang Clan (who remained under Razor Sharp Records) albums because of the number of companies involved with its production. Never before or since has there been a group to sign a deal of this nature.
-Wu-Wear
In 1995 Wu-Tang released their clothing line Wu Wear, which quickly became one of Hip Hop’s most coveted streetwear brands. The brand’s importance, however, doesn’t come from its popularity but its pioneering. With Wu Wear, Wu-Tang became the first rap group to be laced from head to toe in their own gear. This again gave the group another step ahead of their competition. Even today, Wu Wear is international worn and recognized as a prominent Hip Hop streetwear brand and can be found in stores across the globe and online on various outlets.
-Hollywood Takeover
RZA’s most recent and ambitious endeavor to date is his dabbling in acting and filmmaking. As an actor, RZA has appeared in 21 films and has written and directed three. His popular The Man With The Iron Fists Kung-Fu series has proven he can successfully take his love for traditional Asian martial arts films and put his own spin on them to create something of his own. His partnership with famed director Quentin Tarantino only further validates his abilities and potential as a filmmaker and opens the door to the possibility of future projects.
RZA has yet to stop shaping Hip Hop’s culture and sound over the years, although he may not be as visibly active as he once was. His prominence in this culture is known and felt by anyone with knowledge of Hip Hop, its origins and its success as a genre. From everyone here at The Source, happy born day RZA, thank you for building such a godly culture.
On Independence Day in 1986, Daryl McDaniels, his partner in rhyme Joseph Simmons and their DJ Jason Mizell, who are best known as the legendary Hip Hop group Run-D.M.C., released one of the most successful singles of their career; “Walk This Way”, which guest stars rock n’ roll vets Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith.
The rap version of the single, which appeared on Run-D.M.C.’s third album Raising Hell, was a very groundbreaking track that helped pioneer the fusion of rock n’ roll and Hip Hop. The original song of the same name appeared on Aerosmith’s 1975 Toys In The Attic album.
On July 2, 1996, Nas unleashed the follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut, 1994’s Illmatic entitled It Was Written, the album featured production from DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, and Havoc.
This time around, the fresh-faced, 22-year-old Brooklyn-born emcee consciously pushed the album in a more mainstream direction, hoping to secure a wider fan base. It worked.
The album proved to be Nas’ most commercially successful release, debuting at #1 on the US Billboard 200 chart. It’s viewed by music critics as one of Nas’ strongest records and remains his best-selling release, with over four million copies sold in the U.S. alone.
One of the album’s standout singles, “If I Ruled the World,” featured Lauryn Hill, who (at the time) was riding the wave of her recent success with The Fugees. Other guests included Foxy Brown, Dr. Dre, and Mobb Deep.
R&B singer R. Kelly will learn his fate in a Brooklyn courtroom, after being found guilty of sex trafficking. Prosecutors say Robert Kelly used his fame and money to prey upon children and young women for his own sexual gratification.
Prosecutors say he should spend at least 25 years in prison. He still faces prostitution charges in Minnesota and federal child porn charges in Illinois.
In other news, a Chicago area fan of R. Kelly is accused of threatening federal prosecutors in New York. Christopher Gunn of Bolingbrook is charged with making threats involving serious bodily injury or death.
Blac Chyna’s “revenge porn” lawsuit against Rob Kardashian, 35, will no longer be going to trial. The former couple reached an agreement just before jury selection was set to begin Monday.
Potential jurors were sent home from the courthouse in Los Angeles after the parties informed the judge that they had agreed to a settlement.
The exact details of the settlement remain unclear. It comes just days after it was reported that the case would proceed because the couple was unable to come to an agreement.
A source confirmed to Rolling Stone the case now will not be going forward. Adding that the ex-couple wanted to resolve the issue for the sake of their 5-year-old daughter, Dream Kardashian.
In 2017, Blac Chyna, 34, filed a suit against Kardashian after he allegedly posted private nude photos of her on Instagram.
The Lashed Cosmetics founder claims Rob’s “revenge porn rant” was a form of domestic abuse and his actions damaged her brand.
Chyna obtained a restraining order against the Arthur George designer after he leaked explicit images of her on social media. Rob Kardashian has denied the claims.
A jury in California decided that comedian, Bill Cosby is guilty of sexually assaulting Judith Huth, a then-teenage girl at the Playboy Mansion back in 1975.
On Tuesday, the jury came back with a verdict in the civil case against Cosby which found him liable and awarded Huth with the sum of $500,000 in damages.
While no punitive compensation was awarded, 84-year-old Cosby, was served a major legal defeat.
“We have always maintained that Judy Huth, Gloria Allred and their cohorts fabricated these false accusations, in order to force Mr. Cosby to finance their racist mission against successful and accomplished Black Men in America,” Cosby’s spokesperson said in a statement following the verdict. “Mr. Cosby continues to maintain his innocence and will vigorously fight these false accusations, so that he can get back to bringing the pursuit of happiness, joy and laughter to the world.”
According to Variety, Huth, who is now 64 years-old accused Cosby of luring her and a friend to the Playboy Mansion a few days after meeting him in a park. She claimed that Cosby took her alone into a bedroom, pulled down his sweatpants and then grabbed her hand in order to masturbate himself, forcing her into a sexual act.
The is the first case to go to trial under the Child Victims Act, which protects adults who suffered abuse as children and come forward with their accounts years later.
Prosecutors say there won’t be criminal charges because the case is past the statute of limitations. Cosby maintains the allegations are false.
R&B singer Ari Lennox revealed she’s done booking shows that require her to take a flight. The Washington, D.C native shared on social media and apologized to her overseas fans but said her fear of flying in a plane has taken a big toll on her mental health.
The Dreamville singer posted:
“For my mental health and sanity, I will not be doing any shows that require me to fly. I can not keep torturing myself with this huge fear of mine. It is literally destroying my health. Enough is enough. I’m so sorry to all that are inconvenienced by this. Don’t know what this will mean for my career but I just can’t do it.”
Ari Lennox says that she will not do shows that require her to fly. She explains that it is a huge fear of hers that is destroying her health. pic.twitter.com/ihe7FpPUiK
Although it’s not the most convenient way to travel, Ari will still be able to make her way through the USA on a tour bus. The late Aretha Franklin, along with DJ Khaled, Whoopi Goldberg and Fat Joe have all opened up about their fear of flying. Legendary rapper KRS-One has even taken a boat to Australia to avoid the not so friendly skies.
Do you have a fear of flying? Share your comments with us on social media.
Lil baby is picking up the Ascap Songwriter of the year for the 2nd time in a row at the 35th annual Ascap Rhythm & Soul Music Awards.
The awards ceremony that celebrates songwriters and publishers is set to take place today, June21 through June 24 on @ASCAP and @ASCAPUrban’s social media channels.
Grammy Award-winning songwriter and artist, Lil Baby is behind several chart-topping hits including “Every Chance I Get,” “Girls Want Girls,” “On Me,” “Rags2Riches 2” and “Wants and Needs.” Lil Baby fans can be delighted to know his 3rd studio album and follow up to MyTurn is slated for a summer 2022 release.
Other expected highlights include “Deconstructed: Ashanti Breaks Down Her Hits,” a special ASCAP Experience conversation featuring multiplatinum singer and songwriter Ashanti.
Ashanti, 41, will speak with VIBE Editor-in-Chief, Datwon Thomas about the 20-year anniversary of her history-making debut album, Ashanti, and delve into the creation of some of her all-time greatest hits.
The event will be broadcast from ASCAP’s YouTube channel. More information is available at www.ascapexperience.com
